With expressive, visceral, yet calm and considered qualities, the animated and complex surfaces of Rachel Wood's work in Premium Craft Crank are invigorated with layers of slip and glaze. Every piece is carefully nurtured to life so compelling the viewer to its mysterious and hidden depths. Each fingerprint, tool mark, rip and join, traces the playful trail of making with clay, just as every footstep in the landscapes of local Derbyshire and the evocative Australian bush infuses the images and feelings in head and heart.
“What does it mean for a painter to use one artist’s style or another? You have to paint like someone else…. But you make a mess of everything. And it’s when you make a mess of everything that you are yourself.”
— Pablo Picasso
This quote immediately struck a chord with me as a student. I was trying to develop my own style, searching for a way forward, some inspiration. The application of my newfound philosophy helped me to relax, experiment, and to take pressure off myself, whether it be for approval from peers or tutors or to, quite simply, stop trying too hard.
However the more I made, both at college and the years after, I realised this quote also applies to the challenges in life, and is not just limited to creative struggles. It’s how we assemble everything that happens, and make sense of what we have, which builds the whole personal picture.
“As we go about our life, stuff happens, good and bad. Some of it we deal with… some of it, not. Sometimes we handle it well, other times, not… But hopefully we make sense of these challenges. ”
We all have cracks, weak areas, and bruises, partnered with fortitude, stamina and resolute areas of our characters. They all form part of the whole to reveal a vital, strong, yet vulnerable, individual.
I liken this to my pots and the way I make them. I want each pot to convey its own spirit and character...to have a pulse and a heartbeat. I want the marks to reflect the journey of exploration and learning in each pot, just as a wrinkle or dimple depicts expression and character in a human face.
There are cracks, fissures, and tears. There are joins that are normally potential weaknesses, but I develop them to become strong features in the pieces. Some are soft, some are bold and rugged. Assembled together, they emerge with integrity, as strong individuals, and confident forms.
“The impulsive desire we all have to want to touch, and the inherent emotional need to be touched, underpins the technical, creative and emotional foundations of my work. My personal intuitive touch is an integral part of these pots - a dent in the soft clay, a tear, rip, and a finger or handprint in the glaze.”
With heavily textured surfaces, my range of stoneware vessels are swathed with layers of slip and glaze to create depth and mystery to the work. The marks from fingers, tools, and each making process have always been an intrinsic part of each pot’s character.
